Fine Living Top 10: U.S. Hotel Restaurants

Number 7

The Steak House

The Steak House is the place to celebrate any special event in style. Enjoy the dining room’s warm, intimate ambiance set off by wood-paneled walls and high-back chairs.

The entrees here extend to the finest dry, aged meats, veal, fish, and signature homemade French fries. Chef de cuisine Jeff Sklaney will also produce a customized menu for your table in the private dining room, if you desire.

Pastry chef David Nolan operates his dessert bar on Friday and Saturday nights, where you can choose from special sorbet or the ice cream flavor of the week and chocolate tastings from around the world. You can even watch while the dessert team creates magnificent chocolate sculptures.

And the hotel — being the Ritz-Carleton — is no slouch either. It’s the recent recipient of AAA’s five-diamond award.

Number 6

Windows on the Green

The Phoenician, Scottsdale, AZ

They say the nights are cool in the desert, but Windows on the Green in Scottsdale suggests anything but. Enjoy sophisticated patio dining or signature margaritas in one of the desert’s most stylish settings and relax to the tune of flamenco guitars.

Chef de cuisine Robert Sanchez is a wizard. He prides himself on delivering imaginative entrees, such as The Sanchez 41, a southwestern-style tapas with four dishes on one plate. We also suggest the pan-seared pacilla chilli salmon with verdoglas, corn tomato relish and yellow bell-pepper puree, and, perhaps most impressively, the table-side guacamole which is made right before your eyes with seven secret spices from Chef Sanchez’s own family recipe.

Number 5

South Gate

Jumeirah Essex House, New York, NY

South Gate gets top marks not only for its location (Central Park South is nothing to argue with), but also for its outstanding modern American cuisine.

Top chef Kerry Heffernan, who has perfected his craft in some of New York City’s finest establishments, produces distinctive and seasonally inspired menus. His dishes include: seared fatty Albacore with eucalyptus, lemon zest and crisp garlic, warm mosaic of parsnip, beet and celeriac with fleur vert and Styrian pumpkin seed oil, and flash-seared squid with cauliflower, pea shoots and lobster coriander essence.

Number 4

The Herbfarm

Willows Lodge, Woodinville, WA

We love the Herbfarm for its atmosphere and its fine dining. This U.S. hotel restaurant is a century-old building with antique doors, wainscoting, stained glass, a grand fireplace, and country charm.

Executive Chef Keith Luce served as sous chef at the White House during the Clinton administration and knows the value of great produce and ingredients. His menu is a tour of the best local ingredients: a seasonally unique nine-course menu that features wild mushrooms, heritage fruits, handmade cheeses, and rare treasures such as water-grown wasabi root and artisanal caviars.

The Anderson Ranch Oregon lamb loin on tongue-of-fire beans, or braised shank on emmer tenderloin poached in olive oil and thyme are elevated to perfection with a bottle from the house’s award-winning wine list.